It is our great pleasure and honor that ASTRA’s longstanding work has been internationally honored, and that we have been announced as a Hero in this year’s Trafficking in Persons report of the US Department of State. This is the first time that the award comes to Serbia and to the organization which has been committed to the fight against all forms of exploitation for 18 years.
Each year, the Department of State honors individuals around the world who are committed to the fight against human trafficking and who contribute to the increased protection of the victims, and this year it is Ivana Radovic from ASTRA. The award for the TIP Hero represents a sign that ASTRA is an internationally recognized organization, that the values and principles we insist on in our work have contributed to the fact that we have become relevant partners in a global response to the human trafficking issue.
The Director of ASTRA, Marija Andjelkovic, has said on the occasion: “Our heroic work has contributed that the issue of human trafficking in Serbia is recognized by individuals, as well as by the organizations, which evolved along with ASTRA’s initiatives and proposed solutions. We can promise, as an organization, that we will not cease to advocate for the improvement of the rights and protection of the victims of human trafficking, to offer direct help and support to the persons who survived exploitation, and to work on prevention of this type of continuous violence. This award is evidence that our so far work has yielded relevant results and that it represents an encouragement for us to work even more actively, motivated and hard.”
Trafficking in Persons report is available here.